Picker



c -7, 9, 1940. R. w. CHANDLER 2,219,380

PICKER Original Filed Jan. 22, 1958 Patented Oct. 29, 1940 UNITED STATES PICKER Robert W. Chandler, Worcester, Mass., assignor to Graton & Knight Company, Worcester, Mass,

Y a corporation of Massa chusetts Application January 22, 1938, Serial No. 186,479

Renewed April 3, 1940 1 Claim.

-The present invention relates to a new and improved picker, together with the method of producing such a picker.

A picker is commonly employed at each side of a loom to receive the impact of the flying shuttle. and to throw the shuttle upon the return fiight. Such pickers have commonly been made of wound leather securely mounted on the end of .the picker stick, and in addition attempts have been made to produce pickers of rubber and other materials. Generally speaking, however, attempts to substitute such other materials for leather have not been successful, either due to the fact that the picker was soon destroyed under the impact, or if made sufiiciently strong to resist impact soon destroyed the shuttle due to its general hard and non-yielding qualities.

It is the purpose of the present invention to produce a picker of rubber and fibre composition which is capable of receiving the impact of the shuttle over long continued periods without impairment of either the picker or the shuttle itself. To this end I propose to construct a d picker by suitably winding ribbons or tapes of parallel fibres coated with rubber in a manner to best withstand the shock of the impacting shuttle. Such a picker comprises essentially a spirally wound core or impact head produced from a ribbon of rubber-fibre. This core, which is impacted by the point of the shuttle in such a manner that the normal bursting strain imposed thereon is resisted lengthwise of the ribbon, is further surrounded with a winding of similar ribbon which virtually forms the bonding strip for securing the completed picker to its supporting stick. This binding strip is again disposed so that the strains imposed are resisted by the lengthwise fibres, producing a picker which under actual tests has given a marked increase in life.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1

represents the wound button; Fig. 2 illustrates aview of the button assembled with the binding strip wound thereabout; and Fig. 3 illustrates the finished picker after being vulcanized and molded.

Referring particularly to the illustrated embodinient of the invention, a rubber tape having parallel fibres embodied therein is spirally wound toproduce an impact plug indicated at Hi. This plug is then secured with a binding strip I2 having a suitable number of turns and wound about a form corresponding in cross-section to the picker stick.- The wound assembly may then be placed in a mold and vulcanized into the general form shown in Fig. 3, producing the finished picker. It is desirable in the final molding operation to provide a centrally located and generally conical depression I6 extending axially into the impact plug as indicated.

Such a picker has great resistance to bursting strains and successfully absorbs the'- impact of the shuttle without damage thereto.

The tapes or ribbons which I employ for constructing this picker are preferably produced by immersing a card sliver in a bath of liquid latex and delivering a fiat ribbon from the bath, the coagulated but unvulcanized rubber causing adherence of the fibres and maintenance of the ribbon for handling. In this form the ribbons may be wound and assembled and eventually completely vulcanized into a homogeneous whole to form the finished picker.

Generally speaking, the method of producing the ribbons to provide the desired strength in the direction of length is disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 186,477, filed Jan. 22, 1938, covering a process of making rubber-fibre ribbons.

What is claimed is:

A picker comprising a spirally wound impact head of rubber and parallel arranged fibres extending in the direction of length of the spiral to impart a high degree of strength against spreading or bursting of the spirally wound head and surrounded by a binding strip consisting of superimposed layers of rubber and parallel fibres, the whole being vulcanized into a predetermined picker shape with a pre-formed opening for a picker stick extending therethrough behind the impact head, the latter being disposed in such a fashion that the entering movement of the shuttle is generally axial with respect to the spiral winding.

ROBERT W. CHANDLER, 

